Sea World after a week at Disney?

[Livin'4Disney]

Just curious of thoughts on this:
We will be in Disney the week before Christmas and our children really want to do Sea World too. We were thinking of going on the last day of our trip in the morning until late lunch time and then heading home (we're driving to NC with an overnight on the way back)
Is the park doable in a half day?
Also, we can get free tickets, so this is even more of an incentive to go. I'm worried about pure exhaustion after 6 days in Disney....

 

[CPM]

I found Sea World to be a very relaxing park. Not hectic like Disney at all. Since you have free tickets you probably won't feel so compelled to see everything. If it's crowded just make sure you get to the shows early, and it won't be a problem. There are really only 5 rides, so just don't make those a priority if it;s busy. I bet you will be able to see about 75% of the park in at a relaxed pace in that amount of time.

 

[Livin'4Disney]

Thank you for the helpful tips
It definitely sounds doable and might even be a nice change of pace to end the week.

 

[robvia]

I would go the day before you check out because of the exhaustion factor.

SWF is a relaxing kind of place. If you arrive at 08:30am when the parking lot opens, you can get on JTA and Kracken with no waits. The rest is just shows where you arrive 30 minutes before to get the best seats. Then you can go back to your Disney hotel, rest, and go visit a Disney park since they stay open late.

It would be asking a lot to tour a park, then drive the rest of the day. Your feet would be tired from walking around, and then you'd have to get in the car. Not fun. Go the day before, enjoy the park, have a few beer samples, and go back to your Disney room.

 

[RabFlmom]

It will be crowded at SW during Christmas. By late lunch are we meaning 3 or 4ish or 1 or 2ish times? Going first thing in the morning, the first shows won't be till 10 so head to feed the dolphins first, then to as many shows as you can before you have to leave. You might be able to see 2 and possibly 3 shows. Last year at Christmas we gave up trying to see any shows and just did the things like feeding animals, rides, and Arctic area because the lines were around the stadiums and they were announcing closures an hour before the shows. Just plan on taking it easy and enjoying the animals at various parts of the park. It is relaxing compared to Disney parks, but there is a lot of walking so it can be tiring.

 

[Livin'4Disney]

I am going to have to think on this a bit. Maybe we will go mid-week and head to AK for the EMH that night? I guess I hate to waste a day of our MYW tickets to go to SW but if we can enjoy a park in the evening that would be okay. Wednesday was our "choice day" so I'll have to talk to the family and see what they want to do. It is also a possibility to do it on our first morning there Sat. b/c we are not checking in to FW until the afternoon and doing HDDR that night
I will say I like the idea of being able to come back to our FW cabin and not having to worry about the much dreaded long drive home.
Lots of things to ponder thank you for all the great tips.
I have such fond memories of seeing Shamu (only once..) when I was a child that I really want my kids (DS3, DD7, DD9) to experience it and I don't know when we will be back.
Any other thoughts are greatly appreciated

 

[MissionMouse]

When we went to SeaWorld we reviewed going before or after the Disney portion of the vacation. We elected to go to Sea World first. We figured the highlight of the trip would be the Disney portion with our final day to be at the MK...spending time with their favorites.

For us, placing Sea World at the beginning of the trip worked out Great. They loved Sea World and we went back the second day for Free. The second day we just took our time to see our favorites again and a few other attractions, then made our way over to DTD for some ice cream. We would say a half day at Sea World is not enough time to see the numerous shows which they offer. When you visit a park based upon show times you find your day books out pretty quick.

 

[NurseW2Kiddies]

You should definatly go. My boys (8 & 12) love Sea World and we always do it our last day. It may be a good idea to do it before your last day though because you may want to take advantage of the second day for free deal. You can run around like crazy...or you can take it easy. Either way you will enjoy yourself. If you want to feed the dolphins be sure to get in line at a decent time. They only sell so many fish and then your out of luck. Have fun!!

 

[jwfla422]

Just keep in mind if you only do a 1/2 day you will only be able to fit maybe 2 shows in if you want to feed the dolphins or do any of the rides. I took dd over the summer. We spent two 1/2 days (9-2) and did 2-3 shows a day, feed the dolphins, checked out some of the walk through exhibits but didn't do any rides.

The shows are on a schedule and you need to get to them at least 20 min. prior to get decent seats (or if limited seating like our favorite show, Pets Ahoy). Sometimes they're a little tough to coordinate with each other. But, It's a fun park. Different than WDW, but a nice change.

 

[Gdad]

Kraken is worth a jaunt thru Sea World if you like roller coasters...Floorless is kind of neat.

 

[Calgary DISHeads]

Different strokes for different folks... we did SW this time for the first time but likely won't be back. It was okay - disappointed in not seeing Believe but being a new mom myself at one time I get it. The sealion show highlight was the mime. Waited inline for a 90 minutes at the helicopter ride as it kept breaking down then fixed, then breaking down. Thought the halloween party was totally cheesy as many of the treats they had advertised had to be paid for. I understand it was part of the ticket but come on, if you want me to pay then let me know up front. My highlight was petting the Dolphin that alone was worth it. Kids DS12 and DD9 thought it was fun but had no desire to go back and do another day. I'm glad we did it once but I double we will go back. We did get to do pretty much everything in one day. We got there about 10:30am and left around 7ish.

 

[yaytezIOA]

The Halloween stuff is great. Its not a seperate ticketed event, like some others...... You get trick or treating for free, you get interaction with some crazy characters and you get crafts and fun...and a neat show or two.
Sea World is worth doing, if you dont mind not riding. There are plenty of shows, exhibits, interactive playthings....and if you want to ride they have a few of those too. You just have to pick the time to do it. Right now its pretty busy because of the Halloween thing, but if you get going early you can get all of your rides in, all of your shows and still have time to trick or treat. I'll post some pics later.

 

[shoney]

My boys loved it last summer (4 and almost 6 at the time). They loved the freedom to roam. We walked through the shark tunnel countless times. We fed the dolphins and saw many shows. We were there for two weeks last time so we went back a second day. They played in the children's area for a while.
We are headed down in November and are just planning to only go to mk, epcot and ak. My boys are asking to go back to SeaWorld. I think it is just too much for a one week trip. I like a little down time too.

 

[deany]

We went to SW for the whole day and really enjoyed it. We would not have been able to do it 1/2 day and do most of the shows. The shows were really good. If you have kids, make sure you do the sea lion and otter show, the animal show (really cute - I wish I had time to see it twice) and the show that is kind of like Cirque de Soliel (can't remember the name). We like to do SW in the middle of WDW to break it up a bit. It is less hectic and you get to sit a bit more as there are more shows to see.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Sea World we find is a very relaxing park to tour, I would definitely recommend a visit there.
It's not somewhere we would go every year, but having recently been back there in August after a break for a couple of years we appreciated it a lot more.

 

[Livin'4Disney]

Well, we've decided to stay an extra day!! (Thanks to a free night at the Spring Hill Suites on reward points). So we are going to do SeaWorld for a whole day I just went back to read all these suggestions posted last month to my original question and I'm glad we have decided to spend an entire day there.
Thanks to everyone for the tips!